Vol. 2, No. 1 Contents
Headline Back Issues Winter 1997
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Gulfwatch program Director, New Hampshire Office of State Planning
Gulfwatch, launched in 1991 by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, has played an important role in gathering information on the health of the Gulf of Maine marine environment. Under the program, US and Canadian scientists analyze blue mussels that live in shallow coastal habitats throughout the Gulf, examining them for the presence of toxic contaminants such as mercury, lead and pesticides. Gulfwatch uses blue mussels as its "sentinel" species for several reasons. They stay in one place. They pump large volumes of water, causing chemicals to concentrate in their tissues. The amounts of the chemicals detected in the mussels indicates the amounts present in their home waters information which can be harder to discern by analyzing only the water and sediment itself. Over the past six years, Gulfwatch has provided the first long-term, comprehensive picture of the potential presence of toxic trace metal and organic contaminants in the Gulf of Maine. Scientists working in the program have developed baseline information they can use to evaluate how changes in the marine environment may be affecting the health of the Gulf, providing a focus for Gulf-wide cooperation on issues affecting the US and Canada. Changes in the marine environment may be sudden such as those resulting from an oil spill or they may be caused by more gradual contamination from dispersed sources, such as the collective runoff from gas stations, parking lots and roadways. In either case, knowing their effects helps those working in environmental and planning agencies in the US and Canada make sound decisions affecting the Gulf's marine environment. Researchers, grassroots organizations, and even business can also use the information Gulfwatch collects. As new toxic chemicals become cause for concern, Gulfwatch has incorporated them into its research. Also, monitoring pristine areas along with heavily populated areas has brought to light how much of certain toxic substances exist naturally in the environment, and the extent to which pollutants resulting from human activities have spread. To date, very few of the Gulfwatch stations contain mussels with contaminant concentrations high enough to be detrimental to their health. This is good news because of the valuable role mussels play in the coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of Maine. Gulfwatch is valuable in helping us understand how healthy a place the Gulf of Maine is for us and other species living here. The fact that a small animal like a mussel can provide us with so much information underscores how much knowledge there is to be gained by studying the Gulf of Maine as a whole. Jeffrey Taylor is a member of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine
The International Year of the Ocean encourages us to reflect on the many reasons for understanding and appreciating the earth's oceans, but fact that many of our livelihoods are sustained by the marine environment seems reason enough to study it.
The Gulf's importance as a resource for tourism, aquaculture, and commercial fishing makes its well-being essential to the economies of many of our coastal communities.